6 Tips on How to Oversee Staff and Grow Your Employees’ Potential   

Many of us graduate college and enter the corporate workforce dreaming of growing our careers and becoming successful. Then we find that our first job is usually an individual contributor job, where we learn how to do a specific role with responsibilities that we spend all of our time perfecting, so that we can get a fabulous performance review!  And once we perfect it, we usually get a promotion, or we put our hat in the ring for a promotion to the next level — which is likely “a manager of people” role.

So – all of that sounds great!  But moving into managing people is very different from an individual contributor role.  Here are six important tips on becoming a truly great manager of people:

1.  Think About the Favorite Managers that You’ve Had
Why were they your favorite?  How did they treat you?  How did they bring out the best in you? Then think about the traits of those managers, and incorporate them into how you’ll manage people on your team.

At the same time, think about the poor managers you’ve had.  Why were they poor managers?  How did they treat you?  What did they do that de-motivated you?  DO NOT incorporate those traits into how you’ll manage people!

Research shows that people who love their managers not only perform at a higher level, but also produce “discretionary effort,” which means they go above and beyond, and are very engaged in their work. They’re more satisfied in their roles and jobs, and their higher performance typically translates into meeting business objectives.

We all want this.  We want to love our boss, our job and feel like we’re doing great work.  Great managers recognize this, and create this type of environment.

2. Understand that Not All People on the Team Want/Need to be Treated the Same Way 
For example, “Susan” on your team is what is known as a “pleaser,” and needs to know that she’s doing a great job.  She also needs to know she can tell you all about the great work she’s doing — and she needs you to acknowledge her.

“Kris,” on the other hand is an introvert, very independent, and has no interest in listing out everything she’s doing.  She does her work well, on time, and exactly the way you want it — and she doesn’t want any special recognition; rather, she wants independence.

Learn these things about the people on your team – then interact with them in the way that brings out the best in them. While it’s easier sometimes to approach people with cookie-cutter behavior, great managers know that the easy way isn’t the best way.  The best way is to treat everyone as the individual that they are.

3. Appreciate the Differences in the People on Your Team, and Never Pit Them Against Each Other 
People talk, and everyone loves to share what they perceive as insider info, so if you’re a manager that talks about your employees to other employees, they’ll eventually hear about it, and you’ll lose credibility.

If there is dissent on a team, it is up to the manager to have the team work out their issues — otherwise it becomes a performance issue — but the manager should never get involved and take sides.  Bottom line: don’t forget the bigger picture of running the business of the company.

4. Ensure That the Team Understands How They Fit Into the Big Picture of the Company
If, for example, your team is the recruiting team in HR, they need to know the company vision, culture, and business objectives, so that when hiring new people for the company, they understand how these people will fit.  It’s not about filling a job within fifteen days; it’s about finding the right fit and having a team of recruiters who enjoy finding the perfect person for the company.

So great managers share with their teams the objectives and results of the team’s actual work, in order to continuously help the team become more successful.  What good would it do to fill a job quickly on the marketing team — only to have that new person leave within three months of being hired?  A great manager ensures that the recruiters on her team understand the leader of that marketing team, the culture of the team, the career goals of the new hire, etc….you get the picture!

5. When it Comes Time to Give Feedback, Great Managers are Honest and Open
A conversation could look like this: “Susan, you’re a fabulous recruiter, the candidates love you, the managers love you and everyone wants to work with you.  Those are all great attributes, and I’d love to see you continue to work this way with everyone.  That said, an area that you can tweak is to take a little more time to scrutinize the ‘candidate fit’ with the manager, and share the areas where you might have a concern. For example, the last person you hired for marketing, Joanne, quit within the first few months, and you told me when you found out that you knew she wouldn’t last long!  As a recruiter for the company, I expect that you’re only presenting candidates that you believe will be here for the long haul.  Recruiting isn’t a perfect science, but your job is to sniff these types of things out and to ensure that each hire is a great hire.”

Feedback like this will help Susan become better at her work, and ultimately end up a better employee for the company.

6. Hire People that are Smarter than You to Be on Your Team!
This last tip is by far the best tip, and the best-kept secret.  Poor managers want to be the smartest, and know more than everyone on their team.  Great managers want to hire the best to take the team to the highest level, and are happy and proud when people on their team are promoted into other roles and get recognized for their work. Thus, great managers have confidence in their ability to hire the best and then create an environment where the best can succeed.

Bonus: The best employees also want to work for these great managers because they get the perfect playground to do their best work, and be managed in a way that best suits them (and the company).

If you’re able to incorporate these six tips into your new role as a manager, you’ll create a special team where people can do their best work.  It’ll likely put you on the Director track as well, since your superiors will see that you understand how to bring out the best in people.  That’s a win for the whole company.